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The Emerald Isle has one of the few playable golf courses (eleven holes) in the Lesser Antilles. Its beaches are of black volcanic sand; the only white sand beach can be reached by a mountain hike or a charter sail. While the food is more plain than fancy, there is one excellent restaurant, Café le Cabotin. The best show in town is at the Vue Pointe, a 40-room bungalow-cottage complex. The hotel becomes le tout Montserrat on Wednesday nights, when steel bands like the Montserrat Symphony perform.
Barbuda: The Gentle Isle. Nearly 75% of its 62 sq. mi. is beach: endless, empty stretches of white sand glimmering in the roseate reflection of billions of tiny shells. Barbuda (pronounced Ear-byou-duh), which has one of the Caribbean's few bird sanctuaries, also offers the area's best hunting: white crown pigeon, guinea hen, duck, fallow deer and feral boar.
Barbudians, who are known as "the gentle people," own every inch of ground as common property. Strikingly hand some and articulate, they are the descendants of slaves selected for breeding by their 18th century British owner on the basis of physique, looks and intelligence. Barbuda (pop. 1,200) has only one village, Codrington, no telephones, no paved roads, and only three Jeeps available for visitors.
Apart from the exclusive Coco Point Lodge, open only from December through April and "booked solid" at $245 per cou ple per day, the only place to stay is Le Village Soleil, a charming cottage-style hotel that can put up 20 guests. One way to dip toes in this particular par adise is to take a day trip by plane, swim, see the bird sanctuary, savor the langouste — and lay plans for a longer visit later.
—Michael Demarest
* So-called because they are downwind of the prevailing northeasterly trade winds. Though the entire Lesser Antilles chain was known to the Spaniards as the Windward Islands—Islas de Barlovento —the group running from the Virgins to Guadeloupe is now known as the Leewards.
* The fierce, feared Caribs are a virtually extinct race. A small colony of the Indians, now mixed with other bloods, survives on Dominica. The Caribs gave their name to the Caribbees, as the Elizabethans called the Caribbean, which thus should properly be pronounced Cari-bee-an, not Ca-rib-ean.